Adjustable shower head



Aprifi 30, 1968 L. c. MILLER ETAL ADJUSTABLE SHOWER HEAD Filed March 16, 1966 LEON C.M| LLER RICHARD A. MASON I N VEN TORS United States Patent 3,380,664 ADJUSTABLE SHOWER HEAD Leon C. Miller, Playa Del Rey, Calif., and Richard A.

Mason, Orange, Conn., assignors to National Distillers and Chemical Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Virginia Filed Mar. 16, 1966, Ser. No. 534,879 3 Claims. (Cl. 239-458) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable shower head including a housing movable axially with respect to an internal shower head core to selectively control the rate of flow through said head, core and housing preferably being molded from plastic material and the core including first and second spaced flanges of different diameters providing -a discharge cavity therebetween, the inner extremity of the shower head core being provided with an internal passage communicating directly with a source of water supply, and a spider extending through said second flange and providing communication between the internal passage in said core and the discharge cavity defined between said first and second flanges.

This invention relates to a shower head, and more specifically relates to a novel adjustable shower head which can be adjusted through the rotation of an exterior member whereupon a sealing ring is driven deeper into or away from an internally tapered grooved ring forming the discharge orifices, thereby to adjust the diameter of the discharge orifices.

Adjustable shower heads are well known to the art wherein an adjustment member is provided to adjust the coarseness or fineness of the shower spray.

The present invention is for a novel shower head const-ruction which provides the full extent of adjustment of any presently existing shower head where, however, the number of parts are materially reduced, thereby to introduce considerable economies in the manufacture of the device and which further includes ease of adjustment of the shower head.

In accordance with the invention, the shower head is formed of a shower head housing of attractive appearance, and which is threadably secured to a ball cap connected to a standard ball connector which swivellably mounts and connects the shower head to a suitable outlet. The shower head housing is threadably connected to the ball cap, so that rotation of the housing on the ball cap causes the movement of a sealing O-ring along encircling grooves which are inwardly tapered contained at the interior outlet end of the shower head housing. Therefore, when the shower head housing his moved inwardly over the ball cap, the discharge orifices defined by the tapered grooves are reduced in size, thereby to adjust the fineness or coarseness of the spray discharged from the shower head.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide a novel shower head wherein the water supply can be easily adjusted by rotating the exterior surface of the shower head.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel shower head in which spray adjustment can be obtained without putting ones hand into the spray.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel adjustable shower head which can be adjusted to a fine or coarse spray and can be placed in an extreme position to flush out dirt, scale and the like.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a novel shower head which has few parts and is inexpensive.

See

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel shower head which can incorporate a number of molded plastic parts for the moving parts thereof to provide inherent lubricity.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view of a shower head assembly constructed in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of the shower head core of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a side view of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of the shower head housing of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a side view of the shower head housing of FIGURE 4 as seen from the left-hand side of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged view in cross-section of one of the grooves in the shower head housing.

FIGURE 7 is a side cross-sectional view of the shower head cover of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 8 is a side view of FIGURE 7 as seen from the left-hand side of FIGURE 7.

Referring now to the drawings, I have illustrated therein the novel shower head which is connected to a suitable standard ball connector 10 which is connected to a suitable outlet line in the usual manner. The ball 11 of ball connector 10 is then captured between retaining ring 12 and rubber sealing ring 13 which are respectively carried in the ball cap 14 and shower head core 15. The ball cap 14 is threadably connected to the shower head core 15 as illustrated, and the parts are then locked together by a suitable set screw 16.

The shower head core 15 is a unitary device of plastic material which could be an acetal plastic such as Celc n which is capable of being molded according to standard molding practice. As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the shower head core 15 has a first threaded section which is threaded into the 'ball cap 14, as shown in FIGURE 1, and a second threaded section 21 which threadably receives the shower head housing 22 which will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to FIGURES 4, 5 and 6.

Shower head core 15 then has a first extending flange 23 which receives a sealing gasket 24 which is sealed to the interior of section 25 of shower head housing 22, as shown in FIGURE 1, and a second end flange which receives a sealing O-ring 31 which controls the effective discharge orifice diameter of the shower head, as will be later described.

It will be noted that all parts are circular in configuration, as shown, for example, by the circular shape of flange 30 of FIGURE 3.

A chamber 35 is then formed between flanges 30 and 23 of the shower head core, which chamber is enclosed, as shown in FIGURE 1, by the shower head housing 22.

The shower head housing 22 is shown in detail in FIGURES 4, 5 and 6, and again is molded of a suitable 'plastic material such as an acetal plastic such as Celcon. Note that the use of such plastic material insures effective lubrication between the threaded engagement of the shower head housing 22 and the shower head core 15.

The shower head housing 22 of FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 has an interior end thread 40- 'which engages the thread 21 of the shower head core 15, and the opposite end of shower head housing 22 includes an enlarged diameter section 41 which has a plurality of tapered grooves 42 extending around the inner periphery thereof which are parallel with the axis of the shower head housing 22.

The depth of grooves 42 decreases from the left to the right in FIGURE 4 due to the tapered bottom of the 3 grooves. This is shown in more detail in FIGURE the groove 43 which has a taper angle of approximately 10, and an axial length of approximately 0.437 inch. The diameter of the cylinder containing the outer surface of grooves 42 can be approximately 1.122 inches.

It will be noted in FIGURE 1 that the periphery of grooves 42 is of such a diameter that they receive the outer diameter of O-ring 31 which serves to define a separate discharge orifice between each of the adjacent grooves by sealing off the interior surfaces of the grooves. Moreover, depending upon the axial location of O-ring 31, the effective discharge orifice will change in size since the depth of the groove decreases from left to right in FIGURES 1 and 4, whereupon the discharge orifice area will increase as the O-ring 31 moves to the left.

In order to provide a non-slip area for rotation of the shower head housing 22, the outer surface of portion 41 is serrated with notches such as notches 50.

The shower head housing 22 of FIGURES l, 4, 5 and 6 is then cove-red with a suitable shower head cover 60 which is of a thin metallic material such as yellow brass having a wall thickness of approximately 0.020 inch. The shower head cover shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 is secured to the shower head housing, as shown in FIGURE 1, as by punching short depressions 61 and 62 into depressions 63 and 64, respectively (FIGURE 1), which locks the shower head cover in position.

In operation, water from a suitable pipe flows through the ball connector 10 into the interior of shower head core 15. This water then flows through the spider 65 of shower head core into the chamber 35. Thereafter, the water flows through the discharge orifice grooves 42 with the discharge orifice area being determined by the relative axial position of O-ring 31 along the grooves 42. In order to obtain a finer spray, the shower head housing 22 is rotated on the core 15 so that the threaded engagement therebetween causes the housing or cover 22 to advance to the left with respect to the shower head core 15. Thus, the discharge orifice areas defined by each of the grooves between the grooves and the gasket 31 decreases.

In order to have a coarser spray, the discharge area defined by each of the grooves is increased by causing the shower head housing 22 to move to the right with respect to shower head core 15, whereupon the O-ring 31 :will move to an axial position along the grooves 42 having greater depth thereby to define a larger discharge area.

It will be noted that the novel shower head of the invention has a minimum of parts, most of which can be economically formed of moldable plastic material. Moreover, this moldable plastic material provides its own lubrication for the relative movement of the various moving parts.

Furthermore, the novel shower head of the invention can be easily adjusted without placing ones hand in the shower spray by gripping the outside of the shower head cover 22 along the serrations 50 and rotating the shower head. Flushing of the unit may then be accomplished by flushing out dirt or scale by placing the unit in its extreme coarse position and increasing the water pressure in the usual manner.

'Although this invention has been described with respect to its preferred embodiments, it should be understood that many variations and modifications will now be obvious to those skilled in the art, and it is preferred, therefore, that the scope of the invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive privilege or property is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A shower head comprising a shower head housing having a central opening therein, a shower head core positioned within said shower head housing and having a first extending flange on the outer extremity thereof, a second extending flange on said core of substantially lesser diameter than said first flange and spaced therefrom to provide a discharge cavity therebetween enclosed 'by said shower head housing; a peripheral sealing gasket on said second flange for providing sealing engagement with the interior portion of the central opening in said shower head housing; the inner extremity of said shower head core being provided with an internal passage communicating directly with a source of Water supply; a spider in said shower head core extending through said second flange and providing communication between said internal passage and the discharge cavity defined between said first and second flanges; and adjustment means connecting said shower head housing to said shower head core permitting relative axial movement of said shower head core within said shower head housing; the central opening in the shower head housing having an outer interior surface formed by a plurality of grooves encircling the first flange in the shower head core and in contact with the peripheral surface of said first flange, said grooves having a constant minimum diameter extending along the full width of said flange; the depth of said grooves gradually increasing from one end of said grooves to the opposite end thereof whereby each of said grooves defines a discharge orifice of variable area depending on the axial location of said flange with respect to the bottom of said grooves.

2. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said flange has an Oring secured to the outer periphery thereof; said O-ring contacting the interior of said grooves along a circular line.

3. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said shower head core and shower head housing are formed of plastic material; \and a metallic cover enclosing the outer surface of said shower head housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,285,831 6/ 1942 Pennypacker 239-460 2,756,108 7/ 1956 Warren 239-457 2,935,266 5/1960 Coleondr-o et al. 239-458 X 3,022,014 2/ 1962 Young 239-458 X 3,254,842 6/1966 Bachli et a1 239-457 X 3,267,959 8/1966 Savage 239-460 X M. HENSON WOOD, IR., Primary Examiner.

V. C. WILKS, Assistant Examiner. 

